Monday, November 30, 2009

An interesting case report of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of parotid gland

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma as an entity was first described by Stewart in 1945. He considered this tumor to arise from the pluri-potent reserve cells of salivary gland ducts. These reserve cells have the potential to develop into squamous, columnar and mucoid cells.
This tumor constitutes about 5% of all malignant salivary gland tumors. It is more common in the parotid gland. Usually these tumors are asymptomatic, but may cause pain when they become aggressive. These tumors usually donot involve the facial nerve and commonly is confined to the superfical lobe of parotid gland.
Causative factors of this tumor is not known. Exposure to radiation has always been suspected.
This tumor commonly arises in children and young adults and is rare in elderly. This case is being reported because it is a rarity in this age group. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma may become cystic because of the presence of mucoid cells which secrete mucous. There are two malignant lesions that are known to cause cystic lesions in the parotid gland. They are mucoepidermoid carcinoma and adenocystic carcinoma.






Get the full case details from here

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Heuwieser forceps

As a surgeon you would have faced tremendous difficulty during endoscopic sinus surgery while attempting to remove a polyp from maxillary antrum through the natural ostium you have widened. In fact it will be virtually impossible to remove polyp from the roof and anterior wall of maxillary antrum via the natural ostium.
With the introduction of Heuwieser forceps this job has become simple.
The jaw of this forceps is highly versatile that it opens backwards up to 120 degrees. It has a working length of 130mm.